“We are very excited to be a part of this important project for MSU and to be working on it with such a great group of professionals,” said Steve Langlas, owner and president of Langlas and Associates.

The competitive selection was made based on the firm’s qualifications and proposal, according to Banziger. Categories evaluated include expertise, project approach, personnel needs and plans, innovation, bonding capability, scheduling approach and fee proposal and cost.

“All six of the firms that submitted proposals were well-qualified, and their proposals were very good,” Banziger said. “We’re very fortunate to have these high-quality firms to choose from in Montana.”

The new residence hall is one of the largest projects that has been undertaken in the state of Montana and is expected to create 250 or more jobs, Banziger added.

The Montana Board of Regents granted MSU permission to plan and build the new residence hall at its November meeting. Schlenker & McKittrick Architects, located in Helena, has been selected as the project’s design team, and NAC Architecture, a national firm with an office located in Spokane, Wash., will serve as housing specialty consultants.

According to university officials, MSU student enrollment has grown 24 percent in the past six years and was more than 15,000 last fall – a new record. During the same six years that overall enrollment has grown, so has student occupancy in the university’s residence halls – by 31 percent or 870 students.

In recent years, MSU has converted 272 rooms from single to double occupancy; provided 218 freshmen with housing in family and graduate housing apartments; and converted visitor apartments and lounge areas to house 192 students. A new residence hall complex would help recapture those spaces for their original use prior to the recent multi-year enrollment increase. MSU does have 93 new beds with the addition of new Gallatin Hall – which opened last fall – and renovations in the historic Quad F Hall.

In December, the university selected a site on the southwest side of campus for the new residence hall after discussion at numerous campus meetings. The building will be located north of the ASMSU Outdoor Recreation Center and south of Madison and Jefferson residence halls, formerly known as North Hedges suites 1 and 2. Groundbreaking on the building is expected by early fall 2014, with the project completed and students occupying the residence hall by fall 2016.

Bonds have been issued to pay for the residence hall, which will be targeting primarily first-year students. Those bonds will then be repaid with student room and board revenue from MSU Auxiliary Operations.